Too Young
by Sophia Rose Barnes
Summary: Ethan Moore was a big part of Tasha's life in Last Sacrifice, but we don't know anything about him. Who is he? How did he end up with Tasha?
1. Chapter 1

I didn't know what to do. I looked around at the other guardians. They didn't trust me. They didn't want me around them. But, Guardian Hathaway, Guardian Belikov, and Guardian Croft cleared me of all

charges. They couldn't do anything about it.

"HEY! MOORE!" a voice called out to me.

I looked up just in time to see Mikhail Tanner heading toward me.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Guardian Hathaway wants you. Immediately."

I nodded. I followed Guardian Tanner out of Guardian headquarters and he lead me directly to Guardian Hathaway's home. I stood beside Tanner waiting for Guardian Hathaway to rip into me.

"Hey, Mikhail." Hathaway said with a smile.

"Hey, here's Moore."

"Guardian Moore, nice to see you again."

I nodded, "Same to you, Guardian Hathaway."

"Really, Rose? Someone so stiff is going to teach me?" a girl with strawberry blonde hair said. Obviously someone had a bad attitude.

"You need your training and you can't be at Court officially yet. Eddie and Mikhail are more than enough to watch over Jill. Guardian Moore can help you learn your training and learn it quickly. You'll have me and Dimitri too. But, this is part of Moore's punishment."

"Is that supposed to mean something?" the girl said narrowing her eyes. Hathaway rolled her eyes, "No. But, anyway, you need to learn the proper way to do stuff if you want to stay with Jill."

"Who said I want to stay with Jill?" she countered.

Hathaway blowed out a frustrated breath. "Anyway, you don't have a choice. It's this or go back with the Keepers."

The girl glared. What the hell were the Keepers?

"Guardian Moore, this is Angeline Dawes. Angeline, this is Guardian Ethan Moore. Moore, Angeline is a special dhampir. She has never officially trained as a guardian. But, she is good and has amazing raw potential. Guardian Castile was in charge of her training until recently. I am putting you in charge of that training now that Guardian Castile will be on constant duty guardian Princess Dragomir while she is here."

"Yes, ma'am." I replied.

"You'll start tomorrow at 8." she said, giving orders.

"Yes, ma'am. I replied with a curt nod.

"Okay, you're dismissed."

I nodded again and Mikhail walked with me.

Why was she allowing me to do this? Was this some sort of test? Or a way to keep me under her eye?

"Are you okay?" he asked, realizing I was brooding.

I nodded, "Is she serious? About using me?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't she be?"

"Well...I...I used to date Tasha...and..."

Mikhail chuckled, "Rose doesn't care, Moore. Trust me. She knows what it's like to be used and how it is when no one takes you seriously. Don't worry about it. She's giving you a chance to redeem yourself."

"What if I can't?"

"You will. Things have a way of working out. Trust me."

"Mikhail? Are you ready to go?" a voice called out.

We had gotten back to Guardian Headquarters and there stood Sonya Tanner. She'd married Tanner soon after coming back. She had been Strigoi and she was working with Belikov and some other people to learn more about Spirit and Strigoi who are turned back.

I thought back to what I knew about Mikhail Tanner. If he could come back from that maybe I could come back from this...Only time would tell.

* * *

A week had passed since I'd started Angelina's training. She was snippy and quick to argue. She really did have a bad attitude, but she was also determined. And just like Hathaway said she had a lot potential.

I met Angeline outside. She looked at me irritated.

"Ready?"

I nodded. I began her training with laps again. We ran in silence for a while.

"Why do we have to do this?" she groaned looking at me once we were done.

"Endurance training." I replied in a cool voice. She actually amused me, but I really wasn't in the mood to be open with this girl.

I didn't know her and something I learned was never to trust someone you don't really know. Even with idle chatter.

She nodded, "Rose warned me I wouldn't like a lot of what I had to do."

"Why don't you have any guardian training? I mean, all of us have to go through it."

She looked at me evenly, "I used to be a Keeper."

"What's that?"

"My family lives like they used to back in medieval times. Some of it's okay because everyone learns how to defend themselves, but in other ways it sucks. There's no electricity, no convenient things like microwaves and t.v. dinners, no malls, no grocery shopping. We work all the time. It's a hard life. But, it taught me a lot."

I was shocked by a lot of what she said. I had no idea people still lived like that.

"Don't get me wrong, I love my family. But, I always felt so stilted there. I felt like all there was to do was have some idiot marry me and start popping out kids and being a housewife. I don't want that life. I want something more."

"And being a guardian is that?"

"I don't know. But, it's a start. Right? I mean, I really can't go to college or anything. I've never been to college. It's hard being with Jill and having no idea what the hell is in front of me. I mean, I know how to read and I have a basic use of math and stuff. But, it's still hard."

I realized then that Angeline was lonely. That front she had the last week was just that, a front. I nodded.

"Well, Guardians can be pretty critical. But, I think you can make it."

"Ethan...I don't mean to pry...But, it seems like somethings going on here. I mean...I never see you around the other guardians. And I heard you're on desk duty."

"I am." I mumbled, throwing a wall up.

"Why?"

I sighed and looked at her earnest face. "I'm going to tell you a story, okay? About a guy who was pathetic and sick. And how he grew up to be a guardian. And then ruined it."

Angeline looked confused.

"I'll tell you a little bit every day until your training's over. Okay?"

She nodded. "Okay."

"We'll start tomorrow."

She nodded, "Bye."

"Bye."

She walked away and I felt myself sink back into my depressed thoughts. Why was talking to Angeline so easy?


	2. The Beginning

Angelina was watching me differently today. It was this mixture of respect and pity. I hated it. It was a look I'd seen across my sympathizers way too often.

"What?" I snapped, not caring how cross I sounded.

"I talked to Eddie...he told me why the guardians treat you differently."

"And?" I growled.

She shrugged, "I don't know. I just...it isn't fair. And I'm sorry you have to deal with that."

I could tell Angeline didn't often say things like that. She shifted back and forth the turned to start her stretching. I sighed.

"It may not be fair, but what's done is done. I made my bed and now I have to lie in it." I said quietly, doing my own stretches.

"With the Keepers, they...I...hated all of you and all of this. We were happy when Rose came to stay with us. We thought she'd killed your queen and that made her a god among us. But, now...now that I've been a part of all this...I can see how it isn't the greatest thing. That there is a good reason you have your own Court and such, even if it is corrupted at times. And I know that had you done what you did among the keepers. Betraying your own...they would have killed you."

"Yeah, well in mine they shun you. I'd rather be dead then see the scorn and distrust in their faces. It's even worse than the look they give blood whores." I said running my fingers through my hair.

"They shouldn't. It takes a lot of courage to come back and face them after you've been shamed the way you were. I don't think I would have come back."

I didn't want to admit it. But, she was managing to comfort me some. I didn't want her to be able to do that. I didn't want her to penetrate any of my barriers. The one thing I wanted most was in my reach. But, I didn't want it. It would destroy me.

I nodded, "Let's begin. Laps."

Angeline looked like she was about to groan, but she held it in. We ran laps for a while. I could see the sun beginning to rise. I always planned our runs right before the sun rose. Yeah, it was extremely late for both of us, but I was technically illegally training a dhamphir. And I really didn't want to be caught, even if I did have permission from Guardian Hathaway.

From what I'd been able to observe Guardian Hathaway also had Angeline doing a lot of book work, trying to get her caught up so that she could get her promise mark when she turned eighteen.

Finally, I stopped running and waved her into the gym. She sighed and walked in gulping down water from her water bottle. She was sixteen now. Weird to think that she was so young, especially when she behaved so old.

I lectured for a little bit, laying on the ground then set her off to work. I walked around her, observing her work. I could tell she didn't like it when I did that. I could see her anxiety rise just from the expression on her face.

"You have to learn to train with others scrutinizing you. You may not realize, but just as I'm sizing you up a Strigoi will size you up the same way; a lot quicker and a lot deadlier. They find your weaknesses instantly just by observing the way you're standing. And that's how you'll destroy them. Strigoi are cocky, if they think they can defeat you easily they'll lunge and mess up. I want to teach you to be able to look incompetent, but actually feel completely sure of yourself. Right now you aren't sure of yourself and all I'd have to do was strike just the precise way and you'd fall."

She nodded and took a breath to center herself. She lunged at the dummy with renewed strength and confidence. I walked up behind her fixing her stance and pointing out ways she could improve her skill. I could see the slight irriation on her face once we were finished.

"Sometimes I think all of this is bullshit." she growled.

"It won't always be." I said, handing her the bottle of water.

She gulped down some of it then turned to look at me, "Okay, you promised me a story. So, begin."

I nodded, trying to think of where to start, "Okay, we'll start when this kid is ten."

She nodded and watched me expectantly.

* * *

**Ethan**

**Age: 10**

**Lancaster, Pennsylvania**

"Ethan! Please, stay out of the way, sweetheart. I don't need you getting hurt."

"Momma, I just want to play with the other kids." he whined, before falling into a coughing fit.

"Well, baby, I'd let you, but I don't want you getting too sick."

"Mom, I'm not going to break. If I'm gonna be a guardian..."

"Enough, Ethan. We've been over this. You aren't going to be a guardian. Ever. Your sickness isn't going to allow any room for that."

"But, Mom, it's my dre..."

"You aren't Thomas, Ethan. You will never be him." she said, cruelly.

She might not have meant it to come out that way, but it did. I loved my mother, truly I did, but there were moments when she said things like this. Things that were completely inappropriate that I realized that she still loved my brother more than me. That even though Thomas had been dead for three years he was still her favorite.

* * *

I kept close to the older dhampir boys as they moved swiftly through the outskirts of our little town. Yeah, it might have been a bad idea to come out a few hours just before dawn, but I was so tired of my mom telling me I couldn't do things.

I fell behind swiftly as a coughing fit coursed through me. I doubled over leaning against a tree. When I looked up my "friends" were gone. I began trying to find my way home, but all the trees were starting to look the same.

I began to panic as another coughing fit ran through me. That's when I felt the difference. I was far along enough in my training to notice when things in my surroundings were not right. I looked around me and my eyes landed on a pale arm and I bolted. I didn't turn around to check of the beast was chasing me, but I did know I wasn't going fast enough. I also knew I if he was chasing me I wasn't going to last long.  
Suddenly I landed into ice cold water. I shook fiercely as I trudged through the ice water. I could see my pursuer now, his eyes hungry and cold. I ran swiftly and tripped just as I fell in an even deeper part of the river.

Suddenly, something pulled me out. I readied myself for the bite that was no doubt coming. Instead, warm hands and a clear Irish accent greeted me.

"What are you doin', lad? This waters got to be chillin' your bones." the man said.

I couldn't answer, I was trembling so hard. The man's green eyes were kind and warm. But, there was a hard look that said he meant business. He took off the fur coat he wore and put it around me before he carried me back to my house. I never saw my mom cry for me before. There she stood, sobbing.

"You will not go back to that school! We will live with humans!" she threatened as she lapsed into psycho-mom mode.

"That won't be doin' him any good. He needs to be in school. And he needs to be learnin' all he can."

"He's sick." she snapped, "They shouldn't even be training him to be a guardian! He could get someone killed!"

I wanted to argue. I wanted to tell her I was so much more than what she called me.

"Your making that his excuse in life. Whenever he can't accomplish somethin' you'll be blamin' it on his sickness. Don' let her do that to ye. You hear me?" he said turning to me, "Yer brother wouldn't want you to do that."

"You knew my brother?" I stuttered out through my chattering teeth.

He nodded, "Aye, Thomas was my...partner." the man said a deep blush creeping across his face.

At the age of ten I didn't understand that my brother had been gay or that my mom had been extremely angry about.

"You mean your guarding partner?" I asked innocently.

"Somethin' like that." he said with a chuckle. He ruffled my hair.

"Who are you?" my mother said glaring.

"Me name's Gunner. And I'm about to become the new teacher at Thorn Academy."

"What does my son's education have anything to do with the likes of you?"

"Because I'm plannin' to train him meself. After your done actin' all high and mighty."

"You will have noth..."

"It was Thomas's dyin' wish. Would you deny him that?" he growled.

My mother blanched looking at him.

"Fine."

Gunner turned to me, "You'll be returnin' to Thorn's Academy after the holiday. We'll start acceleratin' your trainin' so you can catch up with the rest of your class."

I nodded and watched the tall man walk out the door.

* * *

Angeline looked at me in awe. I looked back at her.

"They left you?"

I nodded, "Yeah, it was a prank. I was the little sick boy no one cared up."

"I'm so sorry." she whispered.

I shrugged, "It happens."

"And your mom. Why did she talk to you like that? That was terrible."

I shrugged and opened my mouth to reply.

"Angeline?" Guardian Belikov's voice rang through the gym.

"Yeah, Dimitri?" she answered.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I was just relaxing with Eth...Guardian Moore before I came back. Is that not okay?"

"No, it's fine. I was just making sure you were all right."

"Guardian Belikov, sir." I greeted politely.

Guardian Belikov nodded to me politely, "Moore. Come on, Angeline. Rose is looking for you."

Angeline sighed, but got up, "See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah." I replied.

"Bye."

"Bye."

With that I was left alone with my thoughts.


End file.
